Examples

While singers, woodwind, pianists Reich included and string players stay at their stations, the percussionists move among their instruments, taking over from one another or stepping out of the music altogether until required to return for a new section, always signalled by a bell-like declaration from the vibraphone.

Composed by Jack Perla for an ensemble of violin, cello, bass, vibraphone and pipa, with a libretto by playwright Eugenie Chan for a cast of four, its story is about reconciling pride in modern America with Chinese tradition across three generations.

And once we have all had our fill of "Lady of Spain," "Arrivederci, Roma" and "The Pennsylvania Polka," the accordion will give way to such vaunted engines of musical oppression as the electric harmonica, the kazoo and the vibraphone.

Gary Burton During the 1960s, jazz aficionados came to know Gary Burton—a skinny, longhaired vibraphone sensation who wielded four mallets at a time, spinning out beautiful musical lines in intricate counterpoint at lightning speed.

Burton is credited for creating the four-mallet style of playing the vibraphone, and while it just may be the familiarity of that style of play, his depth and tone during the encore were a contrast to Mr. Wolf's more stark and driving play.